Development Operations (DevOps) is a methodology that recognizes an increasing overlap between the software development and test functions. DevOps can be characterized by continuous deployment, delivery, and verification of software, along with agile software development. A portion of a product's suite of test cases may be included in DevOps planning to facilitate the software development function. The suite of test cases may be packaged with the software product and shipped to a customer for use as real-time diagnostics.
A test case is designed to verify that a software component or product feature conforms to the specification and design. An operating system or an enterprise software application may require thousands of test cases to adequately verify the functions, features, and options during testing of the different diagnostic testing levels, for example unit, component and system testing. The suite of tests used in validating an operating system or enterprise software application is continually changing as new test cases are added, updated, or removed to accommodate the new and modified features in each product release, i.e., version. Meanwhile, a simultaneous effort to revalidate, modify or remove obsolete test cases is ongoing in parallel to reflect the changes in product features and functions. Thus, test case management and validation (TCMV) is an important consideration in planning for quality control and self-diagnostic analysis.